What  Intelligent  Men  of  the 

World  Say  of  Missions 

« 

Board  of  Missions 

Of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South 
Nashville,  Tennessee 


What  Intelligent  Men  of  the  World  Say 

of  Missions, 

RKV.  IvSAAC  r.  MARTIN,  RKRANON,  VA. 


SINCt)  the  Boxer  iiioveineiit  in  China  has  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
world  to  that  country  and  given  occasion  for  another  attack  on  the  work 
of  missions  by  a  considerable  number  of  secular  papers,  it  has  occurred  to  me 
that  it  might  be  instructive  to  learn  what  those  persons  have  to  say  who  have 
the  best  Opportunity  to  know  of  the  great  world-movements  now  in  progress, 
and  whose  opportunities  for  observing  Christian  missions  have  arisen  from 
commercial  or  State  occupations.  As  will  be  seen  on  examination,  I  have  not 
admitted  anything  from  missionaries  nor  from  preachers,  nor  from  any  one  in 
any  direct  way  connected  with  missions. 

The  estimates  of  these  pages  are  those  of  such  statesmen  as  we  elect  to  the 
Presidency  of  our  great  Republic ;  to  such  also  as  we  appoint  to  the  most 
responsible  posts  of  diplomatic  service,  besides  scholars,  naval  officers,  foreign 
statesmen,  governors,  heathen  statesmen,  philosophers,  princes,  editors,  and 
even  kings.  The  opinions  of  such  men  cannot  be  “whistled  down  the  wind." 
They  go  far  toward  settling  the  question  as  to  whether  Christian  missions  do 
good. 

Kx-President  Benjamin  F.  Harrison  says  mission  work  “is  the  most  influ¬ 
ential  and  enduring  work  that  is  being  done  in  this  day  of  great  enterprises.’’ 

President  William  McKinley  says:  “The  story  of  Christian  missions  is  one 
of  thrilling  interest  and  marvelous  results.  The  sacrifices  of  the  missionaries 
for  their  fellowmen  constitute  one  of  the  most  glorious  pages  of  the  world’s 
history.  The  missionary,  of  whatever  Church  or  ecclesiastical  body,  who 
devotes  his  life  to  the  service  of  the  Master  and  of  man,  carrying  the  torch  of 
truth  and  enlightenment,  deserves  the  gratitude  and  homage  of  mankind. 

.  .  .  They  have  made  men  better,  .  .  .  increased  the  regard  for  home,  have 
strengthened  the  sacred  ties  of  family,  have  made  the  community  well- 
ordered,  and  their  work  has  been  a  potent  influence  in  the  development  of  law 
and  the  establishment  of  government.’’ 

Hon.  E.  H.  Conger,  Minister  to  China,  says :  “  I  desire  in  this  hour  of  deliv¬ 
erance  to  express  what  I  know  to  be  the  universal  sentiment  of  our  diplo¬ 
matic  corps,  our  profound  gratitude  for  inestimable  help  which  the  native 
Christians  under  you  have  rendered  toward  our  preservation.  Without  your 


What  hitelligent  JMen  of  the  World  Say  of  JMissions. 


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intelligent  and  successful  planning  and  the  uncomplaining  'execution  of  the 
Chinese,  I  believe  our  salvation  would  have  been  impossible.  By  your  cour¬ 
teous  consideration  of  me  and  your  continued  patience  under  most  trying 
occasions,  I  have  been  most  deeply  touched,  and  for  it  I  thank  you  most 
heartily.  I  hope  and  believe  that  in  God’s  unerring  plan  your  sacrifices  and 
danger  will  be  rich  fruits  in  the  material  and  spiritual  welfare  of  people  to 
whom  you  have  so  nobly  devoted  your  lives  and  work.” 

Hon.  Charles  Denby,  United  States  Minister  to  China  from  1885  to  r898, 
says:  “I  unqualifiedly,  and  in  the  strongest  language  that  tongue  can  utter, 
give  to  these  men  and  women  who  are  living  and  dying  in  China  and  the  far 
East  my  full  and  unadulterated  commendation.  My  doctrine  is  to  tell,  if  I 
can,  the  simple  truth  about  them,  and  when  that  is  known,  the  caviling,  the 
depreciation,  the  sneering  which  too  often  accompany  comments  on  mission¬ 
ary  work,  will  disappear,  and  they  will  stand  before  the  world,  as  they  ought 
to  stand,  as  benefactors  of  the  people  among  whom  their  lives  are  spent,  and 
foreruiiners  of  the  commerce  of  the  world.” 

Contrast  this  with  what  Colonel  Denby  said  in  1885,  when  he  first  came 
into  contact  with  missionaries  in  China :  “  I  am  not  particularly  pro-missionary. 
These  men  and  women  are  simply  citizens  to  me  as  Minister,  but  as  a  man  I 
cannot  but  admire  and  respect  them.  .  .  .  These  men  and  women  are  pious, 
honest,  sincere,  industrious,  and  trained  for  their  work  by  much  arduous 
stud3^  Outside  any  religious  question,  these  people  are  doing  a  great  work  of 
civilizing,  educating,  and  taking  care  of  helpless  thousands.  They  are  the 
forerunners  of  higher  methods  and  higher  morals.  I  do  not  address  myself 
to  churches,  but  as  a  man  of  the  world  talking  to  someone  like  himself.  I 
think  it  is  difficult  to  say  too  much  good  of  the  missionary  work,  even  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  skeptic.” 

Minister  Denby  addressed  a  letter  to  Hon.  Walter  Q.  Gresham,  Secretary’  of 
State,  on  March  25,  1895,  from  which  the  following  extracts  are  taken  : 

“  SI/':  During  my  recent  short  stay  in  the  United  States  so  many  inquiries 
were  made  of  me  touching  Christian  missions  in  China,  and  the  work  that 
they  are  doing,  that  I  have  concluded  to  send  to  3-011  m3-  views  of  this  impor¬ 
tant  subject.  I  beg  to  premise  that  my  official  position  causes  me  to  be  more 
guarded  in  expressing  my  views  than  I  would  otherwise  be.  I  suppose  the 
main,  broad,  and  crucial  question  touching  missionary  work  in  China  is, 
does  it  do  good?  This  question  may  properly  be  divided  into  two.  Uet  us 
look  at  them  separately  : 

“  First,  does  missionary  work  benefit  the  Chinese  ?  I  think  no  one  can  contro- 


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ll'7ial  Intellige7ii  Men  of  the  World  Say  of  Missions. 


vert  the  patent  fact  that  the  Chinese  are  enormously  benefited  by  the  labors  of 
the  missionaries  in  their  midst.  Foreign  hospitals  are  a  great  boon  to  the  sick, 
China,  before  the  advent  of  the  missionary,  did  not  know  what  surgery  was. 

.  .  .  In  the  matter  of  education  the  movement  is  immense.  There  are  schools 
and  colleges  all  over  China,  taught  by  the  missionaries.  I  have  been  present 
often  at  the  exhibitions  given  by  these  schools.  They  show  progress  in  a 
great  degree.  The  educated  Chinaman  who  speaks  English  becomes  a  new 
man.  ...  I  leave  out  of  this  discussion*  the  religious' benefits  conferred  by 
converting  Chinese  to  Christianity.  ...  I  can  only  say  that  converts  to  Chris¬ 
tianity  are  numerous.  There  are  many  native  Christian  churches.  The  con¬ 
verts  seem  to  be  as  devoted  as  people  of  any  other  race. 

“  In  the  second  place,  let  us  see  whether  and  how  far  foreign  countries  are 
benefited  by  missionary  work  done  in  China.  Missiojiaries  are  the  pioneers 
of  trade  and  commerce.  Civilization,  learning,  and  instruction  breed  new 
wants  which  commerce  supplies.  .  .  .  Humanity  has  not  devised  any  better, 
or  even  so  good,  engine  of  civilizing  savage  peoples  as  proselytisni  to  Chris¬ 
tianity.  The  history  of  the  world  attests  this  fact.” 

President  James  B.  Angell,  Minister  to  China  from  1880  to  1881,  states  that 
“  the  immediate  provocation  of  the  Chinese  officials  seems  to  have  been  the 
reform  movements  of  the  Emperor  in  1898  and  the  agressive  policy  of  the 
European  powers.  The  spirit  which  has  animated  the  Chinese  has  been  pre¬ 
dominantly  anti-foreign  rather  than  anti-Christian.  .  .  .  As  there  are  more 
missionaries  in  the  interior  than  foreigners  of  any  other  class,  more  demon¬ 
strations  have  been  made  against  them  than  other  foreigners.  My  opinion  is 
that  missionary  activities  alone  would  not  have  involved  foreign  powers  in 
any  serious  trouble  with  China.” 

Hon,  Geo.  F.  Seward,  former  Consul  General  and  subsequently  Minister  to 
China  from  1876  to  1880,  says  of  missionaries:  “They  are  men  of  education 
and  judgment.  They  depend  upon  spiritual  weapons  and  good  works.  For 
every  enemy  a  missionary  makes  he  makes  fifty  friends.  The  one  enemy  may 
arouse  in  ignorant  rabble  to  attack  him.  During  my  twenty  years’  stay  in 
China  I  always  congratulated  myself  on  the  fact  that  the  missionaries  were 
there.  .  .  ,  The  good  done  by  the  missionaries  in  the  way  of  education,  of 
medical  relief,  and  of  other  charities,  cannot  be  overestimated.  If  in  China 
there  were  none  other  influences  than  missionary,  the  upbuilding  of  that  great 
people  would  go  forward  securely.  I  have  the  profoundest  admiration  for  the 
missionary  as  I  have  known  him  in  China.  He  is  a  power  for  good  and  peace, 
not  for  evil.” 


IF/mf  Intelligent  lien  of  the  IJIortI  Say  of  Missions. 


5 


From  these  statements  of  our  leading  representatives  in  China  (  and  they 
could  easily  be  multiplied )  it  will  appear  that  those  men  whose  long  resi¬ 
dence  gives  them  opportunity  to  observe,  and  whose  official  responsibility 
makes  their  observations  doubly  sober,  give  the  strongest  possible  approval 
to  the  work  of  missions  in  what  is  admittedly  the  most  difficult  of  mission 
fields. 

Hon.  John  W.  Foster,  formerly  Secretary  of  State  for  the  United  States,  and 
afterwards  Consul  to  the  Chinese  Government,  says  :  “There  is,  in  my  opinion, 
no  reason  why  mission  work  in  China  should  be  relaxed  on  account  of  the 
recent  troubles  in  that  Empire.  .  .  .  After  two  visits  to  China,  five  and  six 
ago,  I  said  in  public  addresses  before  Christian  audiences  in  various  parts  of 
the  United  States,  that  I  regarded  China  as  the  most  hopeful. field  for  mission 
work  in  the  world.  The  late  disorders,  the  murders  of  missionaries,  and  the 
destruction  of  mission  property  have  not  changed  my  opinion.  .  ,  .  The  hope 
of  this  people  (the  Chinese)  and  its  government  is  Christianity.” 

Hon.  John  W.  Barrett,  late  Minister  to  Siam,  says  :  “The  King  of  Siam,  who 
is  admittedly  one  of  the  ablest  statesmen  in  Asia,  once  said  to  me  that  the 
American  missionaries  had  done  more  to  advance  the  welfare  of  his  country 
and  people  than  any  other  foreign  influence.  From  careful  study  of  the  scope 
of  missionary  labor,  not  only  in  Siam,  bnt  in  China  and  Japan,  during  a 
period  of  nearly  six  years,  I  am  convinced  that  the  missionaries  are  doing  a 
great  and  good  work  for  the  advancement  of  both  the  moral  and  material 
interests  of  these  Asiatic  lands.  Let  us  therefore  be  fair  in  judging  the  mis¬ 
sionaries.” 

On  October  20,  1900,  Mr.  Barrett,  writing  for  The  Outlook,  after  frankly 
admitting  that  he  went  to  the  far  East  with  a  prejudice  against  missionaries, 
says:  “  I  came  away  convinced  beyond  question  that  if  the  results  of  their 
efforts  through  long  years  could  be  carefully  weighed  in  the  balance  of  public 
opinion,  a  larger  majority  of  our  people  would  earnestly  espouse  the  contin¬ 
uance  of  missionary  effort  everywhere  in  Asia.  ...  It  is  well  to  note  that 
nearly  every  minister  and  consul  of  the  United  States  who  has  lived  many 
years  in  Asia,  and  therefore  has  been  brought’  in  closest  contact  with  the 
missionaries  and  their  work,  where  he  could  study  all  the  details  of  it,  conies 
home  more  favorably  disposed  toward  them  than  he  was  when  he  began  his 
duties.” 

Lord  Harris,  Governor  of  Bombay,  India,  has  said  :  “  I  do  not  think  I  can  too 
prominently  say  that  our  gratitude  to  the  American  Marathin  Mission  has 
been  piling  up  and  piling  up  all  the  years  of  this  century,  ...  I  take  this 


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lV//a^  Inielligeiit  Men  of  the  World  Say  of  Missions. 


opportunity  of  conveying,  on  behalf  of  the  Government  of  Bombay,  our  most 
grateful  thanks  for  the  assistance  the  people  of  the  United  States  are  render¬ 
ing  the  Government  in  pushing  forward  the  cause  of  education  in  India.” 

Sir  Chas.  U.  Atchison,  Lieutenant  Governor  of  the  Punjab,  in  a  letter 
written  in  consequence  of  a  statement  in  the  book  of  an  American  naturalist, 
who  had  spent  some  time  in  India  looking  for  wild  animals,  and  not  for  native 
Christians,  makes  this  strong  statement :  “Any  one  who  writes  that  Indian 
officials  as  a  class  have  no  faith  in  the  work  of  missionaries  as  a  civilizing  and 
Christianizing  agency  in  India  must  be  either  ignorant  of  the  facts  or  under 
the  influence  of  a  very  blind  prejudice.  .  .  .  Missionary  teaching  and  Chris¬ 
tian  literature  are  leavening  native  opinion,  especially  among  the  Hindoos,  in 
a  way  and  to  an  extent  quite  startling  to  those  who  take  a  little  personal 
trouble  to  investigate  the  facts. 

Sir  Richard  Temple  sa3"s  of  the  native  Christians  of  Southern  India;  “ 
conversation  with  them  impressed  me  with  their  simple  and  absolute  fidelity, 
their  lo}^al  feeling  toward  their  European  pastors,  their  resolute  desire  to 
transmit  the  faith  unimpaired  to  their  children.  I  never  heard  but  one 
opinion  from  magistrates,  civil  officers,  and  independent  observers ;  namely 
this,  that  these  people  are  well  behaved,  law-abiding,  free  from  crime,  tem¬ 
perate,  harmless.  That  they  never  cause  scandals  to  arise,  never  apostatize, 
never  compromise  themselves  with  idolatrous  practices,  and  yet  never  engage 
in  feuds  or  even  disputes  with  their  heathen  neighbors.  As  for  their  inner 
life — let  any  one  who  is  acquainted  with  the  practical  ethics  of  Hindooism,  not 
as  gathered  from  sacred  writings  and  accessible  only  to  the  learned,  but  as 
displa^-ed  in  the  conduct  of  public  worship  and  the  effect  of  private  example 
— contrast  this  with  the  pure  belief  and  the  virtuous  instruction  under  which 
they  now  live.  We  will  then  find  it  impossible  to  doubt  the  enormous  effects, 
morallj^  and  spiritually,  produced  by  Christianity  on  their  minds  and  hearts. 
The  conduct  of  the  native  Christians  is  good,  and  worthy  of  the  faith  which 
they  profess.” 

Sir  Bartte  Frere,  formerl}’  Governor  of  Bombay,  said  in  a  lecture  delivered 
in  London:  “I  speak  simply  as  to  matters  of  experience  and  observation,  and 
not  of  opinion ;  just  as  a  Roman  prefect  might  have  reported  to  Trojan  or  the 
Antonine ;  and  I  assure  you  that,  whatever  you  may  be  told  to  the  contrary, 
the  teaching  of  Christianity  among  the  millions  of  Hindoos  and  Mohammed¬ 
ans  in  India  is  effecting  changes,  moral,  social,  and  political,  which  for  extent 
and  rapidity  of  effect  are  far  more  extraordinary  than  anything  which  you  or 
your  fathers  have  witnessed  in  modern  Europe.” 


\V/iai  Intelligent  Jl/en  of  the  World  .S^i'  of  Missions. 


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Sir  Charles  PHliott,  Governor  of  Bengal,  ruling  seventy  millions  of  people 
in  India,  said  in  London :  “  I  make  bold  to  say  if  missions  did  not  exist  it 
would  be  onr  duty  to  invent  them.” 

An  English  Blue  Book  (which  is  the  official  report  of  Parliament)  contains 
these  strong  words:  “The  Government  of  India  cannot  but  acknowledge  the 
great  obligation  under  which  it  is  laid  by  the  benevolent  work  of  these  six 
hundred  missionaries  whose  blameless  example  and  self-denying  labors  are 
infusing  new  vigor  into  the  stereotyped  life  of  the  great  population  placed 
under  English  ride,  and  are  preparing  them  to  be  in  every  way  better  men 
and  better  citizens  of  the  great  empire  in  which  they  live.” 

The  testimony  of  intelligent  Hindoos,  who,  while  yet  heathens,  have  seen 
the  influence  of  Christianity  as  it  has  been  exerted  in  India,  corroborates 
that  of  the  English  statesmen  cited  above,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  following  : 

Keshub  Chunder  Sen,  the  founder  of  the  Bramo-Somaj,  a  Hindoo  society, 
the  organization  of  which  Prof.  Max  Muller  declared  to  be  one  of  the  most 
momentous  movements  of  the  century,  says:  “It  is  Christ  who  rules  British 
India,  and  not  the  British  Government.” 

Prince  Travancore,  of  India,  said:  “Of  one  thing  I  am  convinced  do  what 
we  will,  oppose  it  as  we  may,  it  is  the  Christian’s  Bible  which  sooner  or  later 
will  regenerate  this  land.  Marvelous  has  been  the  effect  of  Christianity  in 
the  moral  moulding  and  leavening  of  Europe.  I  am  not  a  Christian  ;  I  do  not 
accept  the  cardinal  tenets  of  Christianity  as  they  concern  man  in  the  next 
world;  but  I  accept  the  Christian  ethics  in  their  entirety  ;  I  have  the  highest 
admiration  for  them.” 

An  old  Hindoo  gentleman  said  to  Doctor  Penticost  a  few  years  ago,  when 
that  gentleman  was  visiting  India:  “I  shall  never  be  a  Christian,  but  shall 
die  a  Hindoo ;  but  I  have  no  doubt  my  grandchildren  will  all  become 
Christians.” 

The  Hindoo.,  a  leading  Hindoo  paper,  published  in  South  India,  said:  “We 
recently  approved  the  statement  of  a  Bombay  paper,  that  the  social  emi¬ 
nence  which  Parsees  so  deservedly  enjoy  at  the  present  moment  was  due  to 
these  two  causes:  that  their  women  are  well  educated,  and  they  are  bound  by 
no  restrictions  of  caste.  These  two  advantages  make  themselves  felt  among 
our  native  Christian  brethren,  and  it  is  probable  they  will  soon  be  the  Parsees 
of  Southern  India.  They  will  furnish  the  most  distinguished  public  servants, 
barristers,  merchants,  and  citizens  among  the  various  classes  of  the  native 
community.” 


8 


ly/ni/  [iitclliii'cnt  ]\Fcn  of  the  IJh^r/d  Say  of  iMissious. 


Prof.  \V.  M.  Ramsay,  of  Aberdeen  University,  who  has  spent  twelve  years 
in  archeological  studies  in  Turkey,  says  :  “  Beginning  with  a  prejudice  against 
their  (missionaries’)  work,  I  was  driven  by  the  force  of  facts  and  experience  to 
the  opinion  that  the  mission  has  been  the  strongest  as  well  as  the  most 
beneficent  influence  in  causing  the  nioveinent  toward  civilization  which  has 
been  perceptible  among  all  the  people  of  Turkey.”  He  speaks  of  “the 
great  educational  organization  which  the  American  missionaries  have  built 
np  in  Turkey  with  admirable  foresight  and  skill.” 

Commander  Benjamin  F.  Tilley,  first  Governor  of  American  Samoa,  says: 
“Nearly  every  inhabitant  of  Manna  is  a  professing  Christian,  and  all  the 
hillsides  resound  morning  and  evening  wdtli  hymns  of  praise  to  God.  While 
many  people  scoff  at  the  work  of  the  missionaries,  I  say  without  hesitation 
that  they  have  done  a  wonderful  and  noble  work  among  the  natives  of  the 
South  Seas,  and  through  God’s  help  have  practically  converted  the  whole  of 
the  Samoans.” 

Hon.  William  T.  Harris,  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education,  says: 
“In  the  district  of  Alaska,  whose  educational  system  is  under  the  charge  of 
the  Bureau  of  Education,  we  find  the  mission  stations  the  only  effective 
centers  for  any  efforts  looking  to  the  education  of  the  natives  and  their 
assimilation  with  onr  own.” 

Rear  Admiral  George  E.  Bellknap,  United  States  Navy,  says :  “  I  assert  it  to 
be  a  fact  beyond  contradiction,  that  there  is  not  a  ruler,  official,  merchant,  or 
any  other  person,  from  emperors,  viceroys,  governors,  judges,  generals, 
counselors,  ministers,  admirals,  and  others  down  to  the  lowest  coolies  in  China 
and  Japan,  Siam  and  Korea,  who  in  their  association  or  dealings  with  their 
fellow  men  in  that  quarter  of  the  globe,  are  not  indebted  every  day  of  their 
lives  to  work  and  achievements  of  the  American  missionaries.” 

“And  Jesus  came  and  spake  unto  them,  saying.  All  power  is  given  unto  me 
in  heaven  and  in  earth.  Go  ye  therefore,  and  teach  all  nations,  baptizing 
them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost: 
Teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  yon: 
and,  lo,  I  am  with  5mu  always,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world.” 
(Matt,  xxviii.  18-20.) 

“  But  ye  shall  receive  power,  after  that  the  Holy  Gost  is  come  upon  yon  : 
and  ye  shall  be  witnesses  unto  me  both  in  Jerusalem,  and  in  all  Judea,  and  in 
Samaria,  and  unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth.”  (Acts  i.  8.) 

“  The  earth  shall  be  full  of  the  knowledge  of  the  IvOrd,  as  the  waters  cover 
the  sea.”  ( Isa.  xi.  9. ) 


